The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1887-02-03
A BOOK OF TRAVELS
WRITTEN ~ A MAN WHO HAD
- NEVER eEEN ABROAD. =
Dsiishtfuliy Rsalistis Descriptions Of
Places He Had Never Sssn-Lest In
Liverpool Aftsr Telling People All
About It-seoial success.

Inc autnOr OF one OF tno uOSt lntcEcSt-
ing books of European travel ever written
Is gentleman who was never outside OF
New York city until after his book was
published. After its publication the au-
thor paid himself the compliment Of read
ing it, and it SO interested him that he
thought he would like to 20 to Europe.
The work was in its eleventh edition and
had made Q great popular hit when the
author bought ticket on the White Star
line and embarked for foreign lands. His
ocean voyage and arrival In the old world
were delightful, for he was traveller who
had never seen anything and to whom
everything had the charm of novelty.
After spending o year In looking upon
things that be had described, this hap ~
traveller, who wrote his impressions first
and saw his sights sfterward, embarked
for home, and arrived in New York the
other day ON the steamship Adriatic.
He sat last night In . coy uptown hotel
by . cracking fire and chatted with Q
friend. After lighting . fresh cigar he
said; eyes, that book was fake from
beginning to snd."' ..----..-.. s.-s---s---------
"How did you come to write it first and
do your travelling afterwardf" !, a.. { ~
"Well one summer day, rour years ago,
whom was hard pressed and hadn't done
anything for week but . pun and scurvy
set Of moral verses, for which got $3.50,
though tho moral alone was worth 81, an
out Of town publisher came to me and
asked me to write . book on foreign
travel. told him had never travelled
fifty miles in my life. He said It didn't
make any difference. as It was not neces-
sary to travel to write book. He asked
me not 10 feel dif1dent, and said that he
had never travelled himself. WELL said
I, II you've never been away from home,
and I've mover been away from home, the
book may be ridiculous.' No. he re-
piled; they viii look upon IL as new
view Of Europe Tie publisher then told
me that he had . proof rsader who had
bssu . tramp In Europe, and who would
correct any glaring mistakes I might
make. We struck bargain. / got all
the money could TN advance and went to
work. IL - 80
How could you describe what you had
not scent" u 80 = ~
I win tell you. I got no end Of en-
cyclopedias and guide books and photo
graphs read seven or eight hours q day
and made copious notes. saw Europe
through the eyes Of hfty people. I col
lected lot Of petty facts Of no interest to
give realism 70 the work Then mapped
out the book in . mathematical way and
decided how much would give to each
part Of my subject. Then settled myself
at . desk in my garnet and went to writ
ing. One Of the difficulties was to get en-
rapport with my scheme. wrote MP
Venice after days fishing on Sheepshead
bay. spent two days In the Catskills
before writing up the Alps. wrote the
chapter on an hour in the sultan's seraglio
n N nj vSfv d.,
and carrying on an innocent Irritation with
. red headed girl in tenement window
opposite. When wanted to write ND the
1azzaroni OF Naples went into Mulberry
street and studied tho Italians in the alleys
and courts there. went up to Jones'
Wood and Wendell park to prepare to
write up the beer gardens of Vienna and
their German holiday makers. Before
writing of the Malay sailors on the ships
at London visited the Malay colony in
New York. Before I got through my
book discovered that New York was an |
epitome OF Europe, and that only had to |
take street car to visit the nations of the |
earth.
'The book was @ long and weary Job, |
but at last got through with It and sent |
it to the publisher. The proofreader
took hold Of it then. I believe that he
had slept in every hedge and been in
every jail and visited every interesting
place in Europe. He made so many
valuable corrections that four or Ave |
ehabters of the book had to be rewritten.
The book was rushed through the press,
literally advertised and put on the market
three years ago. Ihad worked the pub
Usher for all he was worth while was
sending In the manuscript and was con-
siderably ahead Of him, and SO that was
the last ] ever expected to hear of my
astonishing travels. The book was favor
ably reviewed by the press, which said it
was tho work Of an original observer,
and that some OF the descriptive passages
were fine bits OF realistic writing.
"The first edition brought me dress
coat and one Of those coffin shirt fronts.
found paragraphs in the newspapers
speaking Of me NJ the celebrated trav-
eler.' began to think that was no
longer . hack writer, but . man of letters.
and when received an invitation to
reception in Fifth aver
got myself up regardless Of exps- .ue I
that must be 1T ..se, and
found that my hosts were ,rary artist.
who had picked on me - lion hunters,
not rs writer, and " q great traveller,
10 an evidence Of y .anted TO parade me
mad never ees' .ncir social success. I
Knew anysn :. in society, end no one
~ aE about me; so no one could
tnoue ID never been to Europe. |
AZ would carry out the farce. So
:, cnt to . score Of teas and kcttledrums
.aat winter, where was always meeting
people who had been to Europe fifteen or
Sixteen times, and was ever in danger OF
exposing my ignorance. To avoid such .
catastrophe I read up petty, out Of the
way places, barren Of interest, where no.
body had ever been, and when got to .
party and was pushed to the wall for an
account Of my travels, would describe
some by-path of Europe that no one had
ever traverSed, or some Insignificant
village that no traveller had ever seen.
81 found that this expedient, which I
rosorted to out Of sheer desperation,
greatly increased my reputation. The
people said that Twas as familiar with the
remotest hooks and corners Of Europe as
ordinary travellers were with the most
familiar places, like London and Paris.
So the book Of European travel went
along boomingly, and had soon covered
eight editions. ..''. .-
zone day, two years after IL was writ
zen, and when had quite forgotten 1t, I
picked up book in friends Office and
read It to kill time while was waiting.
Il was . work describing travels in
Europe, and became very much fas-
cinated by Il. It interested me SO much
thst Iforgot that wrote IL, and soon had
Efeax hath In Il, and resolved to go to
Europe and SEQ the sights had described
with my own eyes. The next week was
on board o steamer-the Adriatic-the
same one, by the way, on which have
Just returned. g
81 hadn't been in Liverpool an hour BE-
fore I was lost. One afternoon in Lon
don found tourist with my book n his
hand pointing out Westminster abbey as
che Tower of London. In travelling over
che continent I found hills where ] had
described mountains, woods where had
put plains, and deserts which had peo-
pied with happy villages. To make the
matter more embarrassing, every other
tourist in the cars had my book in his lap,
and whom I ventured to ask what any
thing was he would turn to the book and
answer me. think was the most igno-
rant traveller who ever went abroad. -
New York Star. F ~
A f0r thu ak3nusffa - xt- <3;,,,n- a. II.